Tirupati: The first National Conference of Parliamentary and Legislative Committees on Women’s Empowerment concluded in Tirupati with the unanimous adoption of the ‘Tirupati Resolution’, creating a roadmap for advancing women-led development in India.

The Resolution called for applying a gender lens across ministries, institutionalising gender-responsive budgeting, strengthening technical capacity, enhancing health, education, skills, and entrepreneurship for women, and bridging the digital divide to ensure women become active creators of technology. It pledged to make women’s education, safety, dignity and self-reliance the cornerstone of national progress and the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.

The chief guest at the valedictory session on Monday, Andhra Pradesh Governor Justice S Abdul Nazeer, underlined that women’s empowerment was not just for women but for entire society. Quoting poet Maya Angelou, he said every woman who stands for herself uplifts all women. Recalling the respect and intellectual opportunities granted to women in ancient India, he underlined how women have excelled across fields – from politics and science to medicine and law.

Citing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women’s Reservation Bill), he said equal participation in policymaking would strengthen inclusive governance. He pointed to global examples, including Rwanda, where reservations raised women’s parliamentary representation to 64 percent, and stressed the need for India to raise its current 14 per cent representation to 33 per cent, while the world average is 26.5 per cent.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said women’s empowerment was not merely a social obligation but an economic necessity. He emphasized that sustainable models of economic empowerment can unlock vast human potential and help build a resilient socio-economic framework. “Budgets must be instruments of social justice,” he said, calling for institutionalised Gender Budget Cells in ministries and states, enhanced allocations for women’s healthcare and education, and monitoring outcomes through gender-disaggregated data.

Marking the International Day of Democracy, Birla underlined that India, the ‘Mother of Democracy’, had always upheld equality, dialogue, and participation as civilisational values. Highlighting the achievements of women from rural and underprivileged backgrounds in education, entrepreneurship, and leadership, Birla urged that opportunities be extended equitably to ensure inclusive national growth.

Turning to technology, Birla cautioned against excluding women from the digital era.

Bridging the digital divide, ensuring cyber safety, and dedicated literacy missions for women, he said, were critical for inclusive participation in the knowledge economy.

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh described the Tirupati conference as a historic milestone, the first of its scale since the women’s empowerment committee was established in 1997. He praised the efforts of Lok Sabha Speaker Birla and MP Daggubati Purandeswari in steering the initiative. Emphasising that gender budgeting must measure outcomes and not just allocations, he said India’s aspiration to become a developed nation required women’s full economic, social and political participation.

Harivansh also hailed recent milestones such as women scientists’ contribution to Chandrayaan-3, the commissioning of women cadets in the NDA, and the leadership of Prof G Madhavi Latha in the Chenab bridge project. The two-day deliberations, he said, would lay a foundation for India’s future, ensuring women’s empowerment remained central to the nation’s development journey.